[duelz]

hey guys. im beyond novice on Macs. Lately i thought i was being clever when i changed the permissions of Application, System and permissions folder. now my laptop just restarts over and over. i have no disc and my warrant is gone. u guys are my best bet. please help me. i have a macbook 13-inch.
thanx in advance

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by duelz 

hey guys. im beyond novice on Macs.

no comment

Originally Posted by duelz 

Lately i thought i was being clever when i changed the permissions of Application, System and permissions folder. now my laptop just restarts over and over. i have no disc and my warrant is gone. u guys are my best bet. please help me. i have a macbook 13-inch.
thanx in advance

This could work:

The macosxhints Forums - View Single Post - How run Repair Permissions from command line?

After the Command-S startup, type the following on the command prompts, allowing time for each to do its thing:
/sbin/fsck -y<return>
/sbin/mount -uw /<return>
/sbin/autodiskmount -va<return>
/usr/sbin/diskutil repairPermissions /

And, when one is sure it's all done, type:
reboot<return>


Good luck.

-t

[Cold Warrior]

We also have a lengthy thread here.

http://forums.macnn.com/90/mac-os-x/...-mac-wont-get/

[CharlesS]

A lot of the stuff in that thread might not be necessary, though. If you have an OS install disc you can boot from, you should be able to run Repair Permissions from there and undo what you did. That'll be easier than all the single-user-mode command-line-based solutions we came up with in that thread (because some users there weren't able to boot from CD/DVD).

[turtle777]

Originally Posted by CharlesS 

A lot of the stuff in that thread might not be necessary, though. If you have an OS install disc you can boot from, you should be able to run Repair Permissions from there and undo what you did. That'll be easier than all the single-user-mode command-line-based solutions we came up with in that thread (because some users there weren't able to boot from CD/DVD).

Yeah, but the OP has no disk.

i have no disc and my warrant is gone

He could always ask the police to issue a new warrant though

-t

[CharlesS]

Oh whoops, didn't see that. nm

[duelz]

Originally Posted by turtle777 

no comment



This could work:

The macosxhints Forums - View Single Post - How run Repair Permissions from command line?

After the Command-S startup, type the following on the command prompts, allowing time for each to do its thing:
/sbin/fsck -y<return>
/sbin/mount -uw /<return>
/sbin/autodiskmount -va<return>
/usr/sbin/diskutil repairPermissions /

And, when one is sure it's all done, type:
reboot<return>


Good luck.

-t

thnx turtle bt when i ran /sbin/fsck -y , i get (volume is journaled. No checking perfomed)
and when i ran /usr/sbin/diskutil repairPermissions / , i get (unable to run because unable to use the DiskManagement framework)
:S

[turtle777]

Try fsck -fy

To be honest, maybe it would be a better idea if you just purchased a SL DVD for $29 and ran the Repair Permissions from that.

-t

[duelz]

i finally borrowed the macbook discs, ran the disk utility and repair permissions BUT my Mac still wont boot up

[jmiddel]

Try re-installing the OS from those disks you got.

[duelz]

it will no install because thy're not mine... can only use it for disk utility

[Cold Warrior]

Sounds like the $29 snow leopard disc is your best choice if you've tried all other options from this thread and linked ones. $29 is a reasonable investment in your ability to recover a Mac from issues like these. I guess you lost the OS disc that came with your Mac?

[duelz]

yeah i lost it a long time ago... i was scared that my options will come to buying a new one,,,

[besson3c]

If you are really stuck you could try just setting super permissive permissions while in single user mode:

chmod -R 777 /Library /System /Users /bin /etc /private /sbin /tmp /usr /var

this should allow you to boot back into OS X where you can then run the permissions repair script, and then lock down your own stuff:

chmod 700 /Users/you
chown -R you /Users/you


Treat this as a last resort.

[duelz]

thanx, let me try that now

[duelz]

ok i have tried it, it took almost 3hrs and the machine still wont pass grey screen... :'(

[besson3c]

Where does it get stuck when you start in verbose mode?

Mac OS X: How to start up in single-user or verbose mode

[duelz]

no it gets stuck when its on the the grey screen with apple and a little spinning wheel, then it reboots

[besson3c]

So you are not getting any output at all while in verbose mode?

[turtle777]

Uhm, has he even confirmed that he can boot into single user or verbose ?

Maybe something else is toast with his system.

-t

[duelz]

ok there is so much stuff in verbose mode. i dont even know what im looking for but i know it rebooted itself. the last line i saw was 'power parent ready after 1 tries'

[duelz]

oh yes i can get into single user mode and verbose mode. i even used a borrowed Mac CD to run disk utility but its not helping

[duelz]

i dont know if this means anything but it looks ugly "BSD root: diskos2, major 14, minor 2"

[turtle777]

Well, what will work for sure is buying a SL DVD and reinstalling the system.

Granted that your data is still readable on the HD, it should be retained.

It's probably a moot point for me to ask if you have a backup.

-t

[duelz]

ok i give up. would it do me any good to connect it to another Mac via FireWire? no i have no backup

[besson3c]

It seems like your problems aren't permissions, but file corruption.

Do you have any important data on the computer?

[turtle777]

Yes, you should be able to connect via Target Disk mode and recover your data.

Target Disk Mode - Mac Guides

I'd strongly encourage that.

-t

[duelz]

yes all my coursework is there and im left wil 1 more week to finish my course. so im in trouble. al least Windows would boot into safe mode... damn Macs

[turtle777]

Uhm, yeah, "damn Macs" for not saving you from doing something stupid.

-t

[duelz]

it might be file corruption but when i did fsck -fy it says Macintosh HD appears to be ok. cant i just the boot files from somewhere alse and paste them in there like on windows?

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by duelz 

it might be file corruption but when i did fsck -fy it says Macintosh HD appears to be ok. cant i just the boot files from somewhere alse and paste them in there like on windows?

fsck doesn't repair individual file corruption, it repairs file system corruption.

If you can figure out what files are corrupt you should be able to copy them over, but your best bet is a dirty reinstall (dirty meaning you don't have to reformat your drive).

Another cause of a problem like this is a failing hard drive, I would look into that once your machine is bootable again. Disk Utility will tell you the SMART status of the drive.

I'm sure it also doesn't have to be said that you should always have a backup no matter whether you are using OS X or Windows, because SATA drives are susceptible to failure.

[duelz]

i guess i just had learn to back the hard way... soo how do i do the "dirty install"

[besson3c]

Originally Posted by duelz 

i guess i just had learn to back the hard way... soo how do i do the "dirty install"

Find (or download) a compatible OS X disk and reinstall without reformatting.

[duelz]

ok... thank you all for your time... at least you tried... i think im just gon sleep now. havent slept in 2 days cz o this computer
thnx again
later